House Republicans Ready to Walk Away From Stimulus Negotiations?

The Politico is reporting that House Republicans Leader John Boehner and Whip Eric Cantor are urging caucus members to oppose the Democrats pork laden economic stimulus bill when it comes to the floor on Wednesday.

President Barack Obama is coming to the Capitol this afternoon to curry favor with congressional Republicans. But it appears GOP leaders have already made up their minds to oppose his $825 billion stimulus plan.

House Republican Leader John A. Boehner and his No. 2, Whip Eric Cantor, told their rank-and-file members Tuesday morning during a closed-door meeting to oppose the bill when it comes to the floor Wednesday, according to an aide familiar with the discussion. Boehner told members that he’s voting against the stimulus, and Cantor told the assembled Republicans that there wasn’t any reason for them to support the measure, according to another person in the room. Cantor and his whip team are going to urge GOP members to oppose it.

In a nod to the president, Boehner did point out that this is the third time that Obama has met with Republican leaders, compared with the zero meetings they’ve held with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) — a now-familiar refrain from Republicans in the House. But Obama’s diplomacy clearly isn’t buying any votes yet.

This pre-meeting bluster should dampen the mood for an early afternoon meeting with the president, who is making the trek to hear Republicans’ input on the legislation before Wednesday’s vote. Once Obama is done with House Republicans, he will cross the Capitol to join the Senate Republican Conference lunch to pitch them on the stimulus.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on NBC’s “Today” show Tuesday morning that Democrats in Congress are “drifting away” from Obama’s preferred stimulus plan, which was supposed to include 40 percent tax cuts and be free of earmarks.

Lets hope they have the courage to follow through and oppose this pig… The truth Democrats don’t need Republicans to pass the bill they have the votes to do it on their own. They need, or I should say want, Republican support for political cover that’s all.

On a related note Michele Malkin has the details on the latest Congressional Budget Office report on the stimulus bill. In short it’ll increase budget deficits and the infrastructure spending will take years to kick in.